Blog Tour ~ The Book of Bart by Ryan Hill - Guest Post!!

Only one thing is so powerful, so dangerous that Heaven and Hell must work together to find it: the Shard of Gabriel.
With a mysterious Black Cloud of Death hot on the shard’s trail, a desperate Heaven enlists the help of Bart, a demon who knows more about the shard than almost anyone. Six years ago, he had it in his hands. If only he’d used it before his coup to overthrow the devil failed. Now, he’s been sprung from his eternal punishment to help Samantha, an angel in training, recover the shard before the Black Cloud of Death finds it.
If Bartholomew wants to succeed, he’ll have to fight the temptation to betray Samantha and the allure of the shard. After an existence full of evil, the only way Bart can get right with Hell is to be good.

Guest Post:

THE BOOK OF BARThas it's roots in a previous manuscript I wrote, calledTHE DEMON'S KISS. In that book, Bart was the main villain. His personality was the same, but he looked like he was thirty-five, not eighteen. Every time I got to a scene with Bart, I'd get really excited, moreso than I did with any other part of the book. About halfway through writing that manuscript, I decided Bart deserved his own story. When I decided to shelveTHE DEMON'S KISS,THE BOOK OF BARTwas born.

Writing THE BOOK OF BARTwas a fantastic experience. I knew there would be challenges, the biggest of which was making sure I didn't turn off readers with Bart's behavior. Asking a demon to step inside the mind of a demon is a tall task, and throughout the writing process I always tried to make sure Bart was scoundrelly, but didn't do anything that would completely turn off the reader. It didn't hurt that Bart is a fun character, as he quickly grew tired of damning souls, and decided to make a game of it. That jester-like quality is what helped me keep Bart from going into dark territory and turning off the reader. It was a fantastic challenge, and made THE BOOK OF BART more enjoyable for it. I think. I mean, at least for me. A reader may feel differently. Anxiety taking over. Hair catching on fire.

Moving on...

I did do some research forTHE BOOK OF BART. I set the story in Raleigh, NC, where I live. That made the geography easier to navigate. As for some of the more supernatural elements in the book, some of it I made up, while others were culled from research on Wikipedia, aka a writer's best friend. I studied all sorts of mythologies/religions, especially the different characters within. From there, I either directly used something, or created an item that, say, one of these figures created, the Shard of Gabriel, which was created by the angel Gabriel. I love playing with mythology.

About the Author

Growing up, Ryan Hill used to spend his time reading and writing instead of doing homework. This resulted in an obsession with becoming a writer, but also a gross incompetence in the fields of science and mathematics. A graduate of North Carolina State University, Ryan has been a film critic for over five years. He lives in Raleigh, NC, with his dog/shadow Maggie. Ryan also feels strange about referring to himself in the third person.Links:Website + Goodreads + Twitter